Tag Archives: Church

The Spiritual Nature of the Church

It’s a sad state of affairs when many churches are more concerned about programs and trying to be like and attract the world than being faithful to the Lord of the Word and the Word of the Lord. They see growth in numbers (and love to tout those numbers) but the truth is that they are in great danger of simply herding goats. It was Charles Spurgeon who was quoted saying, “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.” How true is that of so many churches that are so much like the world that it’s impossible to tell them apart from it.

I’ve been reading through a wonderful book on the Sermon on the Mount by the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. (One of the finest expositors of the Scriptures.) In his book, the following statement caught my attention and is so true of the state of the church today. We would do well to heed these words:

The Church of God for many a day has been trying to mix certain incompatibles. If it is a spiritual society, then we cannot mix the world with it in any shape or form. It does not matter what the form is. ‘The world’ does not mean gross sin only; it means things which are quite legitimate in and of themselves. It is this constant compromising in the life of the Church that has been her ruination ever since the days of Constantine. Once you have lost the division between world and the Church, the Church ceases to be truly Christian. But, thank God, there have been revivals, there have been people who have seen this truth and who have refused to compromise. It is the only hope for the Church. We have been trying to sustain her by worldly methods, and it is not surprising that she is as she is. And she will continue to be like this as ling as we continue to attempt the impossible. It is only when we come to realize that we are God’s people, and a spiritual people, and that we live in the realm of the spirit, that we shall be blessed and shall begin to see a revival. We can introduce our worldly methods, and we may appear to be having success, but the Church will not improve. No! the Church is spiritual, and her spiritual life must be nurtured and sustained in a purely spiritual manner.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), pg. 373

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Devil's Mission of Amusement

The Church’s Task—Entertainment or Evangelization?

By Archibald Brown (1844-1922)

Different days demand their own special testimony. The watchman who would be faithful to his Lord and the city of his God, has need to carefully note the signs of the times and emphasize his witness accordingly. Concerning the testimony needed now, there can be little, if any, doubt. An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross, so brazen in its impudence, that the most shortsighted of spiritual men can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, ever for evil. It has worked like leaven until now the whole lump ferments. Look which way you may, its presence makes itself manifest. There is little if anything to choose between Church, Chapel, or Mission Hall. However they may differ in some respects, they bear a striking likeness in the posters which disfigure their notice boards. Amusement for the people is the leading article advertised by each. If any of my readers doubt my statement, or think my utterance too sweeping, let them take a tour of inspection and study “the announcements for the week” at the doors of the sanctuaries of the neighborhood; or let them read the religious advertisements in their local papers. I have done this again and again, until the hideous fact has been proved up to the hilt, that “amusement” is ousting “the preaching of the Gospel” as the great attraction. “Concerts,” “Entertainments,” “Dramatic Performances,” are the words honoured with biggest type and most startling colors. The Concert is fast becoming as much a recognized part of church life as the Prayer Meeting, and is already, in most places, far better attended.

“Providing recreation for the people” will soon be looked upon as a necessary part of Christian work, and as binding upon the Church of God, as though it were a Divine command, unless some strong voice be raised which will make themselves heard. I do not presume to possess such a voice, but I do entertain the hope that I may awaken some louder echoes. Anyway, the burden of the Lord is upon me in this matter, and I leave it with Him to give my testimony ringing tone, or to let it die away in silence. I shall have delivered my soul in either case. Yet the conviction fills my mind that in all parts of the country there are faithful men and women who see the danger and deplore it and will endorse my witness and my warning.

It is only during the past few years that “amusement” has become a recognized weapon of our warfare, and developed into a mission. There has been a steady “down grade” in this respect. From “speaking out,” as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony; then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she has tolerated them in her borders, and now she has adopted them and provided a home for them—under the plea of “reaching the masses and getting the ear of the people.” The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing—than hinting to the Church that part of her mission is to provide entertainment for the people with a view to winning them into her ranks. The evil nature which lies in every heart, has risen to catch the bait. Here, now, is an opportunity of gratifying the flesh—and yet retaining a comfortable conscience. We can now please ourselves, in order to do good to others. The rough old cross can be exchanged for a “costume,” and the exchange can be made with the benevolent purpose of elevating the people.

All this is terribly sad, and the more so because truly gracious souls are being led away by the specious pretext, that amusements are a form of Christian work. They forget that a seemingly beautiful angel—may be the devil himself, “for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).

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Is Jeremiah 29:11 a Promise for Us?

It’s hard not to find a mug or wall calendar in a Christian bookstore that doesn’t have Jeremiah 29:11 on it. That verse reads:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

It’s probably one of the most misused verses in all of Scripture. Voddie Baucham does an excellent job in the clip below helping us to rightly understand this verse in the context of not only the book of Jeremiah, but all of Scripture. May we rightly handle the Scriptures.

Tempted and Tried

I am working my way through an excellent book by Dr. Russell Moore entitled Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph and Christ. Below is a snipper from the chapter entitled Starving to Death where Moore gives excellent Biblical insight into the root issues behind sin and how Satan works in the lives of believers. It’s refreshing to see a book that highlites the reality of the war with sin and temptation in the lives of believers and how God often uses that struggle to conform us more into the image of Christ. I also admire Moore’s understanding of how important it is for the community of the church to bear one another’s burdens through a biblical understanding of the struggles with sin in believer’s lives. I highly recommend this book. It’s well written and also gives some very excellent O.T. insight that often has the reader saying, “oh now I see the connection!” I know I’ve already had some “aha!” moments as I plow through this book.

Enjoy this snippet:

Sometimes we actually empower Satan by the way we speak of Christian conversion. We highlight the testimony of the ex-alcoholic who says, “Since I met Jesus I’ve never wanted another drink.” Now that happens sometimes, and we should give thanks for God’s power here. But this liberation is no more miraculous, indeed in some ways less so, than the repentant drunk who says, “Every time I hear a clink of ice in a glass I tremble with desire, but God is faithful in keeping me sober.”

The girl with the same-sex desires might conclude she is doomed to be a lesbian because she isn’t drawn to boys and still fights her attraction to girls. Family members who have to cut up their credit cards to keep from spending every paycheck on what they see advertised may conclude they’re just not “spiritual” enough to follow Christ because they still war against their wants. Nonsense! You are not what you want. You are who you are. And that’s defined by the Word of God. It might be that God frees your appetite from whatever it’s drawn toward, but usually he instead enables you to fight it. This might go on for forty days, for forty years, for an entire lifetime. That’s all right. There must be room then in our churches for a genuine bearing of one another’s burdens when it comes to appetites. Pretending the appetites are instantly nullified by conversion is a rejection of what God has told us – that we are still in the war zone.

The Church is the Pillar and Support of the Truth

“Truly biblical ministry must hold forth truths that are absolute… We must take an unmovable stance on all issues where the Bible speaks plainly… Sound doctrine divides, it confronts, it separates, it judges, it convicts, it reproves, it rebukes, it exhorts, it refutes error.  None of those things is very highly esteemed in modern thought.  But the health of the church depends on our holding firmly to the truth.”

John MacArthur, Reckless Faith: When the Church Loses Its Will to Discern

Neglecting Attendance in the House of God

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:23-25)

“People who neglect attendance at the house of God are not only being unscriptural – let me put it bluntly – they are fools. My experience in the ministry has taught me that those who are least regular in their attendance are the ones who are most troubled by problems and perplexities … it is a very foolish Christian who does not attend the sanctuary of God as often as he possibly can.” – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Love for the Brethren

I hear it all the time. People who profess Christ will tell me that they do not need to go to church. That the church is full of hypocrites and that they would rather worship from home and not go to church. You see, their lives may be too busy on a Sunday morning to attend church and forsake the fellowshipping of believers. There is a problem with this statement though and it is one that demonstrates a sickness within evangelicalism today.

Churches today are doing everything they can to get people in the door. I just recently read about a church in California that is giving away cars, x-boxes and even jewelry to people who would enter their doors on Easter Sunday. Or maybe the church down your street holds entertaining concerts on Sunday morning in lieu of worship in order to attract the world. The problem with all of this is that I believe we are overlooking the real problem. You see, a true believer will not need to be convinced or enticed to come to church. They will want to since they are new creations – indwelt with the Holy Spirit who gives us new longings and affections. One of those affections will be a love for the brethren and a God-given desire to be around them – especially in corporate worship. We’re also missing the important truth that when a soul truly is regenerated they will also have a desire to obey their Lord, and of course that would include having a desire to go out into the world as lights and share the gospel with the world.

Let us not forget that the world’s biggest problem is not cancer, poverty, politics, health care or a recession. The world’s biggest problem is God. God is rightfully angry at every single human being because we have all broken His law and sinned grievously and willfully against the Creator. Would not one who has been showered with the riches of Christ’s grace which He lavished on us not have a burning desire to share that glorious good news with the world? Why is it that most leaders in the church today find it necessary to lure the world in when they should instead be spending their time preaching the Scriptures to the regenerate flock within the church calling them to holiness and equipping the saints to go therefore and make disciples. Christians will then be out in the world heralding the gospel making disciples and these converts will then have a desire to look for a church – for if they are truly regenerated they will now have a new disposition craving the corporate worship of Jesus Christ and a desire to be around their eternal brothers and sisters adopted into the kingdom through Christ Jesus. And if an unbeliever does come into our churches should they not see and experience something so unlike the world that it should cause them to pause and wonder who this Jesus is that these people are so in love with and how much they are unlike the world? Sadly, this is rarely the case in the typical church today.

I am saddened by what I hear week after week when I am out on the streets witnessing to folks alongside my brothers and sisters in our evangelism team. Professing believers tell me time and time that they believe they are saved because of a prayer they repeated or because they have been baptized and all-the-while they have absolutely no love for the Church – no love or desire to be in the company of believers. (Much less a love for Christ.) Scripture is strikingly clear – if there is no love for the brethren the love of God is not in you. (1 John 3:14) This is simply saying that if you have no love for other believers, you cannot be a believer yourself.

Allow this quote from Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity to speak to this better than I ever could:

“A common argument of many nominal Christians is that they love Jesus but don’t care for the church. The teaching of 1 John exposes the flaws of this argument, revealing it to be an unbiblical dichotomy. All who are saved by God possess the Spirit, which links them to all other people who possess the Spirit. The local church, of course, is not perfect, and some have had difficult experiences with churches they have attended. But when God saves a person, He gives them a love for His people. His people are the church.”

We need to return to the truths of God’s Word and return to the preaching and teaching of the full counsel of Scripture. Have we completely forgotten that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and not the latest gimmick, concert or pragmatic approach to increasing church membership. I will borrow a great truth from Dr. Mark Dever and state that the biggest problem with the church today is lack of regenerate membership. May the Lord forgive our foolish ways and may we repent and turn back to heralding the full counsel of God’s mighty Word as we lift high the cross of Christ and determine to know nothing but Christ Jesus and Him crucified! (2 Corinthians 2:2)

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Blessed Hope

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Titus 2:11-14